Combination packer



April 22, 1941. E. P. HALLIBURTON COMBINATION PACKBR Filed Sept. 14,.1939

INVENTOR. Erle P. Holliburton "W @M.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented 22, 1941 COMBINATION PACKER Erie P. Halliburton, Los Angeles.Calif., assi'gnor to Halliburton Oil Well cementing Company,

Duncan, Okla.

Application September 14, 1939,8erialNo. 294,881

8 Claims. (Cl. 166-11) This invention relates to oil well equipment andmore particularly to rm ans for setting packers in a rat-hole in a well.

It is often desirable to effect aseal between a conduit placed in an oilwell and the wall of the well. For example, where it is desired toobtain a sample of the connate fluid in the well by means of a testingtool, a packer is placed on the bottom of the tool to effect a seal. Anexample of this is disclosed in the patent to Simmons, No. 1,930,987. Inmaking a test a cone packer is commonly employed and is seated upon arat-'- hole or hole of small diameter in the bottom of c the well. Theshoulder at the top of the rathole sometimes crumbles so that it isdifllcult 1' Figure l is a view in side elevation of a formation testingtool constructed in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the packers andoperatingmeans for the packers shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the apparatus of Figure2, the view being taken on the lines 3-3 thereof; and

Figure 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the apparatus of Figure2, the view being taken on the lines 44 thereof.

Referring to'the drawing in detail, it will be seen that a formationtester assembly is illustrated in Figure 1. This assembly includes atester valve unit designated I I, an equalizing or bypass valve unitdesignated l2, and a packer unit designated generally at l3. The testervalve assembly ll .may consist of the conventional already been proposedto mount a wall packer in shoulder at the top of the rat-hole is apt to'crumble or where it is soft, the cone packer is sometimes forced aconsiderable distance down into the rat-hole before a seal is effected.

In accordance with the present invention. it is proposed to mount a wallpacker beneath a cone packer'and cause the wall packer to effect a sealwithout thrust upon the cone packer. In this way, a double seal can beeffected without unduly drawing the cone packer into the rat-hole.

It is a further object of the present invention to mount a wall packerimmediately below a cone packer and cause the wall packer to expand and'set, thereby protecting the shoulders of the rathole and forming adouble seal.

It is still a further object of the invention to exerting any particulardownward,

, in the patent to Hanes.

provide novel and improved means operating in novel features of thearrangement and construc tion of parts as will be apparent from thefollow ing description taken in connection with the accompaying drawing,in which; 1

I-Ialliburton J-type tool well known to those skilled in the art, thegeneral features of which are described and claimed in the patent toHalliburton, Reissue No. 20,688, reissued April 5, 193g, for "Apparatusfor testing oil wells. Since this unit is well known, it will beunnecessary to describe it here further than to say that it includes avalve which maybe opened or closed by manipulation of a drill pipe orother conduit M by which the tool may be lowered into an oil well.

The equalizing or bypass'unit l2 may be like that disclosed in thepatent to Hanes, No. 2,144,842, patented January 24, 1939, for Bypassassembly for packers, or like that disclosed in the application of H. B.Ziegler, Serial No. 212,265, filed June '7, -1938, for Equalizing valvearrangement for packers. In the drawing, the unit I2 is shown as beingessentially like that disclosed Any other equalizing valve unit may beemployed so long as provision ismade for permitting the flow of fluid orpermit the equalizing of pressure from some point above the packer unitI 3, when the same is in the well,- to a point beneath the packer unitin response to' manipulation of the drill pipe or other conduit usedtolower the assembly into the well.

The present invention is particularly 'concerned with the packer unit13, and this is shown in detail in Figures 2, 3 and 4. When using thebypass or equalizing unit of the type shown in the Hanes patent, it iscustomary to connect the lower end thereof directly to the upper shoe ofa cone packer. In accordance with the present invention, instead-ofconnecting the unit I2 directly to the upper. shoe of a cone packer, itis threaded into a coupling nut l5 which is screw threaded into the topof a cylinder IS. The lower end of the cylinder it is connected to theupper shoe I! of a cone packer i8, and this shoe l1 further carries 2.depending sleeve i9 upon which the packer i8 is mounted.

The packer it may be made up of annular rings of belting in accordancewith usual practice, these being clamped between the upper shoe i1 andthe shoe 2|! which is screw threaded onto the lower end of the sleeve I9. In order to conserve space and to mount a wall packer 2| as close aspossible to the cone packer ll, the shoe serves both as the lower shoefor the packer i8 and the upper shoe for the packer 2|.

The wall packer 2| may consist of a cylinder of rubber or like materialmounted upon an inner rush of fluid down past the cone packer if it isnot making a very eifective seal, and this fluid sleeve 22 mounted forvertical movement within the sleeve I! of the cone packer assembly.

The inner sleeve 22 extends upwardly from the packer 2| to a pointwithin the cylinder Ii where it is connected to a piston 23 slidablyfitted within the cylinder ii and normally occupying a position in thelower portion thereof as illustrated in Figure 2. Beneath the piston 22,the cylinder I6 is provided with a number of ports 24 so that theportion of the chamber i beneath the piston 23 is exposed to mud orother fluid in the well at all times.

The lower end of the inner sleeve 22 is screw threaded into the lowershoe 25 of the wall packer. A perforated tail pipe 26 may be connectedto the lower shoe 25 in accordance with the usual practice.

In operating the apparatus just described to perform a testing operationin the rat-hole of a well, it is lowered into the well with the valve inthe unit ll closed. At this time the pressure in the cylinder l6 abovethe piston 22 will be the same as that below the piston and there willbe no tendency for the piston to move. As the wall packer 2| enters therat-hole and as'the cone packer I2 is seatedlon the shoulders of therat- .hole, there will stillbe little, if any, tendency for the piston22 ,to move, especially if a relief valvesuchasthatshownatllinrigurel ofthe patent to Hanes, No. 2,144,842 is provided.

Let'us assume that the cone packer is seated on the shoulder of arat-hole with the wall packer 2| -in the rat-hole but not yet expandedto effect any seal. The apparatus is in position for making a formationtest to obtain a sample of fluid in the formation in the rat-hole. Atthis time, the drill stem i4 is empty, the valve in the tester unit H isclosed, and the equalizing valve in the unit I2 is closed so that whenthe valve in the unit H is opened fluid will flow from the for- 'mationup through the inner sleeve 22, the upraise the piston 22, and thepiston will move upwardly forcing the lower shoe 25 of the wall packer2| upwardly and expanding that packer against the wall of the rat-holeeilecting a seal whether or not the cone packer l8 has already made aseal between the main bore of the well and the rat-hole. 7

Where only a cone packer is employed in making the test in the rat-holeof a well, there is a will soon wash away some portion of the shoulderand prevent the obtaining of an uncontaminated sample of fluid from theformation This is prevented by the apparatus of the present inventioninasmuch as such downward flow of fluid past the cone packer will beimmediately stopped upon the expansion of the wall packer, and this willtake place just as soon as the tester valve is opened.

A further difliculty in the use of an ordinary cone packer is that thesudden change in pressure above and below the cone packer, when thetester valve is opened, jams or forces the cone packer down into therat-hole and either causes the shoulder of the rat-hole to crumble orthe packer to be so distorted that an efiective seal is not maintained.In accordance with the present invention, this difllculty is overcomeinasmuch as the expansion of the wall packer immediately beneath thecone packer serves in some measure to support the wall of the rat-holeand prevent it from crumbling and further resist downward movement ofthe cone packer into the rat-hole. In this connection, it is to be notedparticularly that in and setting the wall packer 2|, the upper shoe 2|is held stationary while the lower shoe 25 is forced upwardly. In thisway the wall packer is set without-any downwardthrust upon the conepacker.

After the packers have been set as explained above and a desired amountof fluid from the formation has passed upwardly into the drill stem ll,the valve in theformation tester H is closed and the drill pipe pickedup. when this occurs, the equalinng valve unit l2 permits fluid to flowfrom a point exterior of the assembly into the cylinder l2 and down intothe rat-hole beneath the packers. Upon equalizing of the pressure, thereis no longer any tendency for the piston 22 to maintain the packer 2|expanded, and the entire assembly may then be easily removed from thewell, thus completing the drill stem test.

While only one embodiment of the invention has been shown and describedherein, it is obvious that various changes may be made without departingfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the annexed claims.

1. Apparatus conduit and a rat-hole in a well, which includes a. conepacker adapted to seat on the shoulder of a rat-hole, a wall packerlocated below the cone packer and adapted to enter the rat-hole, saidwall packer having a shoe at its upper end and for effecting a sealbetween a a shoe at its lower end, and an arrangement for I expandingthe wall packer to set the same in the rat-hole, said arrangementincluding means for holding the shoe at the upper end of said wallpacker stationary and means for moving the shoe at the lower end thereofupwardly.

2. Apparatus for eflecting a seal between a conduit and a rat-hole in awell, which includes a cone packer adapted to seat on the shoulder of arat-hole, a wall packer located below the'cone packer and adapted toenter the rat-hole, said wall packer having a shoe at its upper end anda shoe at its lower end, and an arrangement for expanding the wallpacker to set the same in the rat-hole, said arrangement including meansfor holding the shoe at the upper end of said wall a ratahoie, a wallpacker located below the cone I packer and adapted to enter therat-hole, said wall packer having a shoe at its upper end and a shoe atits lower end, and: an arrangement for expanding the wall packer to setthe same in the rat-hole, said arrangement including two sleeves, oneconnected to each of said shoes, and hydraulic means for actuating saidsleeves to move the shoes together.

4. Apparatus for eifecting a seal between a conduit and a rat-hole in awell, which includes a cone packer adapted to seat on the shoulder of arat-hole, a wall packer located below the cone packer and adapted toenter the rat-hole, said wall packer having a shoe at its upper end anda shoe at its lower end, and an arrangement for expanding the wallpacker to set the nected thereto, to move the shoe so connected towardthe other of said shoes. v

5. A combination packer unit for oil wells, consisting of a cone packer,a wall packer. and means for mounting the packers on a conduit, saidwall packer being mounted immediately beneath said cone packer wherebythe wall packer may serve to support the walls of the well in thevicinityoi the cone packer and said mounting means including anarrangement for moving the lower end of the wall packer upwardly toexpand the ,same whereby the cone packer and the upper end single shoeserving as the bottom shoe for said wardly.

ERLE P. HALLIBURTON.

